Alarm-clock.



W. E. PORTER & F. S. CORNWELL.

ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2.1915.

1,156,554.. Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

w. E. PORTER & F. s. CORNWELL.

ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2. 1915.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. D. c

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILSON E. PORTER, OF NEW HAVEN, AND FRANK S. CORNWELL, OF 'WOODMONT, CON- NECTICUT, ASSIGNORS TO NEW HAVEN CLOCK 00., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT,

A CORPORATION.

ALARM-CLO CK.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

Application filed July 2, 1915. Serial No. 37,724.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILSON E. PORTER and FRANK S. ConNwELL, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at New Haven and VVoodmont, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Alarm-Clocks; and we do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the charactersof reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, andwhich said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in-

Figure 1 a view in front elevation of an alarm-clock constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 a detached view of the clock-movement in front elevation, the parts being shown in the positions due to them immediately preceding the sounding of an alarm. 3 a view thereof in side elevation. Fig. 4 a corresponding view, showing the parts in the positions due to them directly after the sounding of an alarm. Fig. 5 a view thereof in side elevation. Fig. 6 a detached view of the semaphore operating-arm. Fig. 7 a corresponding view of the semaphore. Fig. 8 a detached sectional view showing the connection of the alarm let-off leverand the operating-arm of the semaphore.

One of the difiiculties connected with the use of an eight-clay alarm clock as commonly constructed, is, that the userhas had no way of determining at any given time whether the alarm-mechanism is, so to speak, in the first twelve-hour phase or the second twelvehour phase of the twenty-four hour alarm interval, with respect to the going off of or sounding of the alarm. To make sure that the alarm-mechanism is properly set, as well as to set or to reset the alarm, he is therefore obliged to turn the hands of the clock until the alarm goes off to show him its phase of operation, or, as the case may be, to give him a starting point, from which toset or reset the alarm. Without this precaution of turning the hands around to test out the running phase of the alarmmechanism, the alarm may go off in the wrong phase, as,-for instance, at 5.30 p. m. instead of 5.30 a. m.

The object of our present invention isto provide an eight-day clock with a visual indicator so connected with the time and alarm-mechanisms of the clock that it will at any given time indicate at a glance whether the alarm-mechanism is running in its first or in its second phase with respect to the last time it went off.

With these ends in View, our invention consists in an alarm clock having certain details of construction and combinations of parts as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out our invention as herein shown, we employ an indicator in the form of a semaphore 2 provided with a red spot 8 which will stand for the day-phase or first period, and a black spot 4 which will stand for the night-phase or second period. To be more explicit, the red spot 3 stands for the twelve hours following the sounding of an alarm, and the black spot 4 stands for the twelve hours preceding the sounding of an alarm, the red spot being located substantially in line above the black spot, and both spots being visible in whole or in part througha sight-opening 5 formed in the dial 6 and dial-back 7 below the centers of the same. As shown, this opening is bushed, as it were, by means of an eyelet 8.

For the operation of the semaphore, we connect it with the time-mechanism of the clock so that'it will be gradually lifted throughout the twenty-four hour alarm interval and with the alarm-mechanism of the clock so that at the termination of this interval it will be tripped and allowed to drop to the limit of its depressed position. This twenty-four hour alarm interval may be said to be alarm-time rather than standard time; the two periods, though of the same length, do not ordinarily coincide.

The specific character of the timeand alarm-mechanisms, and of their connection with the semaphore, may be varied without departing from our invention, which will be satisfied by any time-mechanism and any alarm-mechanism, and any connections between the same and the semaphore, which will cause the operation of the semaphore in the manner described, namely, the lifting of it gradually during the twenty-four hour alarm interval, and then dropping it abruptly at the termination of that interval and coincident with the sounding of the alarm.

In the particular clock shown, the semaphore is provided with an arm 9 by means of which it is hung upon a stud 10 projecting from the front movement-plate 11, the semaphore having vertical swinging movement upon the said stud in a plane parallel with the said front movement-plate 11. A stop-pin 12 mounted in the plate 11 is provided for limiting the downward movement of the semaphore. At its inner end the semaphore-arm 9 is furnished with a lug 13 carrying a pin 14 engaging with a finger 15 at the lower end of a semaphore operating-arm 16, the upper end of which is staked upon a hub .17 turning upon a stud 18 also mounted in the front movement-plate 10 and having its rear end shouldered for the attachment to it of a let-off lever 19 forming a part of the alarm-mechanism and constructed and operated in accordance with the disclosure of Patent No. 956,824 granted 3, 1910, to Vilson E. Porter, for an improvement in alarm clocks. Inasmuch as the timeand alarm-mechanisms shown in the drawings accompanying this application are substantially like the time and alarmmechanisms shown and described in the said patent, it is unnecessary for us at the present time to describe and show either of these mechanisms in full detail, especially as the present invention is intended to be used in conjunction with any suitable timeand alarm-mechanisms of the eight-day alarm type to which it may be adapted. For our present purpose, it will be sufficient to say that thelever 19 is depressed once in twenty-four hours by an operating-cone 20 formed integral with the alarm-cam 21, the said combined cone and cam having rotary and sliding movement upon the alarm-set shaft 22 which has bearing in the front movement-plate 11 and the rear movementplate 23, and projects rearward through the latter and carries a knurled finger-button 24. The said cone and cam mount an alarm-cam wheel. 25 which meshes into and is driven by a driving pinion 26 made wide enough to provide for the endwise movement of the cone 20, cam 21 and wheel 25 upon the set shaft 22. The said pinion 26 is provided with an integral socket or sleeve 27 carrying the hourhand 28. The hour-wheel 29 is secured directly to the rear face of the driving pinion 26. The said hour-wheel 29 meshes into a dial-pinion 30'carried by the dial-wheel 31 which meshes into the cannon pinion, not shown, but understood to be mounted upon the center-arbor 41 in the usual manner. A cam-operating pin 32 mounted in the shaft 22 is engaged by the cam 21 and coacts therewith to push the same, and hence the alarm-wheel 25 and the operating-cone 20, rearward throughout a period of twentyfour hours at the termination of which the high point of the cam passes the pin at which time a helical spring 33 interposed between the cone 20 and the front movement-plate 10 operates to smartly push the cone 20, wheel 25 and cam 21 forward when a helical spring 3& attached to the outer end of the let-off lever 19 lifts the same smartly, with the effect of permitting the semaphore 2 to drop to the limit of its downward movement at which time its red spot 3 is brought into full registration with the sight-opening 5 when it takes the place in the said opening of the black spot 4, which is in full registration with the said sight-opening at the termination of the twenty-four hour alarm interval during which the semaphore has been gradually lifted by the action of the time-mechanism.

For setting the alarm, we provide an alarmsetting pointer 35 provided with a hub 36 which is frictioned upon a sleeve 37 projecting from the forward face of a pinion 38 meshed into an alarm-setting wheel 39 fixed upon the projecting forward end of the shaft 22 which is turned by the knurled finger-button 24 to position the pin 32 with respect to the edge of the cam 21, under the guidance of the alarm-setting hand 35 which sweeps over the front of the dial 6 as the shaft 22 is turned. The minute-hand i0 is secured in the usual manner to the center-arbor 41. As shown, we provide a conical detent co-acting with a finger upon the let-off lever 19, for manually shutting off the alarm, but this feature forms no part of our present invention, and is fully shown and described in said prior patent.

Under the construction shown and described, the lifting of the semaphore 2 does not follow the minute and hour-hands of the clock in the sense that it begins to be lifted at 12 a. m., and is gradually lifted through the succeeding twenty-four hours. On the contrary, its period. of being lifted begins with the sounding of the alarm, whatever time that may be, alarm-time and standard time not being coincident, as already explained. Beginning with the sounding of an alarm, the semaphore is gradually and continuously lifted for twenty-four hours, divided into two twelve-hour phases by the red and black spots 3 and 4, which are shown through the sight-opening 5 so as to indicate to the user of the clock at any given time how near the alarm-mechanism is to sounding an alarm. Thus if the red spot shows in full, the user knows that an alarm will not be sounded again for approximately twenty-four hours. If, on the other hand. the black spotis shown in full, the user will know that the sounding of an alarm is imminent. If substantially equal amounts of the red and black spots are shown at the same time, the user will know that an alarm will be again sounded in about twelve hours. The showing of the spots, either in full or in part, therefore, advises the user at a glance how soon the next alarm will be sounded, whereby he is re-assured that the alarm-mechanism, is properly set and running, or advised to the contrary. The showing of the spots, which he will sense as readily as print, will also guide him in resetting the alarm, in case the clock has been allowed to run down, or in 7 case itis to be initially started and set. To

set or reset the alarm, the user follows the indication of the spots, and turns the hour and minute hands of the clock until the spots indicate that an alarm will be sounded when he desires it to be sounded. It will thus be seen that the spots on the semaphore indicate at a glance when the alarm will next go off, reassure the user that the clock is properly set, or show him that it is not properly set, and guide him in resetting it. Thus if at any given time, more of the red spot shows than the black spot, the user is advised that the alarm-mechanism is running in the first twelve hours of its twenty-four hour interval and just the contrary if more of the black spot than the red spot shows.

l/Ve claim 1. In an eight-day alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarm-mechanisms thereof, of an indicator connected with the said mechanisms and operated thereby, whereby the indicator is gradually moved by the time-mechanism in one direction throughout an alarm-interval of twenty-four hours and tripped at the termination of the said twenty-four hour alarm-interval by the alarm-mechanism.

2. In an eight-day alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarm-mechanisms thereof, of a semaphore gradually moved in one direction throughout an alarm-interval of twenty-four hours by the time-mechanism and tripped at the end of the said twenty-four hour alarm-interval by the alarm-mechanism, whereby the position at any given time of the alarm-mechanism with respect to the time of tripping is indicated by the semaphore.

3. In an eight-day alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarm-mechanisms thereof, of a dial having a sight-opening, a semaphore located directly back of the said sight-opening and provided upon its outer face with means to indicate the two twelvehour phases of a twenty-four hour alarminterval, and means connecting the said indicator with the said timeand alarm-mechanisms, whereby the indicator is gradually moved throughout a twenty four hour alarm-interval by the time-mechanism and tripped at the end of the said interval by the alarm-mechanism.

4:. In an eight-day alarm clock, the combination with the timeand alarm-mechanisms thereof, of a dial having a sight-opening, a semaphore located back of the said sightopening and provided upon its face with two spots located one above the other, and connection between the said semaphore and the timeand alarm-mechanisms, whereby the semaphore is gradually moved in one direction throughout a twenty-four hour alarm-interval and tripped at the end of the said interval by the alarm-mechanism.

l/VILSON E. PORTER. FRANK S. CORNIVELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington. D. C. 

